A child who tested positive for measles died in West Texas, the state health department said, marking the first death in an outbreak that has sickened nearly 140 people. The Texas Department of State Health Services said a school-age child died after being hospitalized in Lubbock.

A child in West Texas has died of measles, state health officials said on Wednesday, the first reported U.S. death from the highly contagious disease in a decade, as a Texas outbreak has grown from a handful of cases to more than 130 across two states.

Texas officials on Wednesday announced the first measles death in the state's ongoing outbreak of the highly contagious disease. The death, of a school-age child, is the first measles death in the U.S. since 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.